Washing hands
Cleaning the hands with water — a small ritual that can be ordinary hygiene or the formal refusal of responsibility.
Washing hands in a dream is the dream's image of a small act that has two meanings the dream rarely fully separates. It is ordinary hygiene, the body being kept clean by daily ritual; it is also, in the long memory of the culture, the gesture of Pilate, the formal refusal of responsibility for something the rest of the room is about to do. The dream brings the washing when something in your life — a transition between two tasks, an honest cleaning, or a refusal to be associated with a decision being taken nearby — is being marked by the act. Hands washed before sitting down to eat is the dream affirming the small honest ritual. Hands washed publicly while a verdict is being handed down by others is the dream noting that the responsibility is being rinsed off in front of the room, and the room is watching.